Duplex rotary screen printing machine



Aug. 27, 1968 n. MosKOwl'Tz 3,393,680

I DUPLEX ROTARY SCREEN PRINTING MACHINE Filed March 25, 1967 5Sheets-Sheet l "INH //Lwf i---an DONALD MOSKOWITZ Aug. 27, 1968 D.MosKowlTz DUPLEX ROTARY SCREEN PRINTING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledMarch 25, 1967 INVENTOR. DONALD MOSKOWITZ Aug- 27, 1968 D. MosKowl'rz3,398,686

DUPLEX ROTARY SCREEN PRINTING MACHINE Filed March 25, 1967 5Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. DONALD MOSKOWITZ www@ Aug- 27, 1968 D.MosKowlTz 3,398,686

DUPLEX ROTARY SCREEN PRINTING MACHINE Filed March 23, 19e? 5sheets-sheet 4 INVENTOR. DONALD MOSKOWITZ ug 27, 1968 D. MosKowlTz3,398,680

DUPLEX ROTARY SCREEN PRINTING MACHINE Filed March 25 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet5 JNVENTOR.

- DONALD MosKowlTz BY da@ lid United States Patent O 3,398,680 DUPLEXROTARY SCREEN PRINTING MACHINE Donald Moskowitz, Long Beach, N.Y.,assignor to Roto- Print Machinery Corporation, New York, N.Y., acorporation of New York Filed Mar. 23, 1967, Ser. No. 625,484 7 Claims.(Cl. 101-115) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The disclosure sets forth aduplex rotary screen printing machine designed to print heavy fabricssimultaneously on both sides thereof so that the same design will beapplied to opposite sides and will penetrate to the median plane of thefabric. Drapery fabrics, towelling or other heavy fabrics so printedwill have two finished imprinted sides which will be produced by onepass through the machine, with the design penetrating substantiallythrou-gh the entire fabric in registry from both sides.

The application is achieved by using opposing screen rollers, interiorlyof which is carried printing paste or liquid, with each of the opposingrollers being adjustable so las to achieve registry, and with the setsof rollers being adjustable so as to achieve registry.

Desirably the rollers are used in sets of 3, 4, 5 or 6 for applying thedifferent colors in the front and back of the fabric in desired designs,and the rollers each have gearing arrangements at the ends thereof witha worm and wheel adjustment so that each pair of rollers will be inproper registry. At the same time each pair of rollers may be adjustedin respect to each other pair so as to achieve coordination withsuitable adjustments for both the feed-in and feed-out rollers.Adjustment at each station or each pair of rollers will not affect thecomplete adjustment, and the complete adjustment will not affect theadjustment of any pair of rollers.

Desirably, the color applied is held in the bottom of the circularscreen and is fed in from the ends of the screen rollers.

The fabric desirably printed should have a weight of about 4 to 8 ouncesper yard of 45 yard goods, desirably of a relatively heavy weave withthe fabrics used being preferably terrycloth, drapery fabrics,Slipcovers, duck, blanket material and the like.

The printing speed may vary from 5 meters per minute to to 50 meters perminute. Although the preferred application is to heavy fabrics, it isalso possible to imprint light fabrics in the same manner. The machinesmay conveniently print 4 to l2 colors.

-BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (l) Field of the invention The presentinvention relates to textile printing machinery and it particularlyrelates to textile printing machinery in which the fabric is colorprinted through a rotary screen. This process is generally applied torelatively heavy, thick fabrics such as blankets, draperies, terryclothand the like, where it is desired to obtain a registry of a design onboth sides of the fabric.

(2) Description of prior art The prior art is generally directed toprinting only one side of heavy fabrics with an engraved or intaglioroller or a screen roller. Generally where it is desired to apply thedesign to both sides, the fabric is passed through once and then asecond time, and it is rare that the design is in registry on oppositesides of the fabric.

Furthermore, it is hard to duplicate the humidity, pressure and exactcondition of the printing uid, where the 3,398,680 Patented Aug. 27,1968 ICC printing takes place on opposite sides at different times andas a general rule, where it does take place at different times the printon one side of the fabric will be offset or out of registry with theprint on the other side and have a different quality or characterdepending upon varying atmospheric conditions as well as difference inthe condition of the cloth and printing fluid.

BRIEF SUMMARY AND GENERAL STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION It is among theobjects of the present invention to provide a duplex screen printingmachine which will assure registry of the print on both sides of thefabric and which is particularly adaptable to relatively heavy fabricssuch as terrycloth, draperies, duck, can-vas, blankets.

Another object is to provide la duplex double side printing operation inwhich the fabric may be printed on both sides simultaneously in properregistry with penetration of the color to the median plane of thefabric, or to the center of the warp and weft strands of a woven fabricor to the center of the strands of a knitted fabric, with assurancethere will be no fading or overrun and with perfect registry on oppositesides of the fabric.

Another object is to provide a multiple color printing machine whichwill be so adjustable as to secure registry of the same print on bothsides of the fabric as well as printing at various stages of the fabric.

Still further objects and advantages will appear in the more detaileddescription set forth below, it being understood, however, that thismore `detailed description is given by w-ay of illustration andexplanation only and not by way of limitation, since various changestherein may be made by those skilled in the art without departing fromthe scope and spirit of the present invention.

In accomplishing the above objects, it has been found most satisfactoryto provide a stack of pairs of rotary scr-een cylinders between whichthe fabric to be printed will desirably pass upwardly and besimultaneously imprinted on opposite sides with the same color design asit moves up from the stack. These screen cylinders are desirably held inparallel side frames by their end axles, each of which is adjustable inrespect to the other roller or screen 'of a pair so as to adjust andcontrol the registry.

The rollers at the same time are all driven lby means of a chain orseries of chains from a motor drive at the bottom of the frame. Thedesirable adjustment consists of a worm and wheel associated with eachshaft, and to permit the pairs of rollers to :be adjusted in respect toeach other a suitable wonm and wheel is provided.

In the preferred form of the invention, the fabric to be imprinted onboth sides is fed in from below, up through and tangentially contactingthe adjacent faces of the screen cylinders. Desirably, each rollerprinting shaft is mounted on an edge horizontal beam which is held in afixed trapezoidal member.

Interiorly of each screen is a contact roller extending the full lengthof each screen and which is provided with a fixed `series of adjustmentsto overcome any bowing, concavity or convexity, to be certain that thescreens will be directly applied tangentially to the materal as it movesupwardly.

Each screen roller is provided with a paint or liquid pigment supplywhich maintains a xed level therein to lassure that there will beuniform printing effect on opp-osite sides of the fabric. At the sametime insufficient printing fluid is applied so that there will be nosmearing or running over of the printing fluid ibey-ond thepredetermined design.

The printing fluid distributing machines. may include level controls tobe certain that there will not :be an excess amount of printing fluid inany screen roller.

3 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS With the foregoing and other objectsin view, the invention consists of the novel construction, combinationand 4arrangement of parts as hereinafter more specifically described andillustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein is shown an embodimentof the invention, but it is to be understood that changes, variationsand modifications can be resorted to which fall within the scope of theclaims hereunto appended.

In the drawings wherein like reference characters denote correspondingparts throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the printing machine with a pile of6 pairs of superimposed printing screens supported by the vertical sideframes;

FIG. 2 is an end elevational view of the printing machine of FIG. l,showing the mounting of the ends of the printing rollers;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, transverse, horizontal sectional view takenupon the line 3--3 of FIG. 1, looking downwardly, and upon an enlargedscale as compared to FIG. l;

FIG. 4 is a transverse, fragmentary, horizontal sectional view takenupon the line 4 4 of FIG. 1, looking downwardly and upon an enlargedscale as compared to FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a transverse fragmentary vertical secional view takenapproximately along the line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic side elevational view indicating the manner offeeding the fabric and the manner in which tension is controlledthereon;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary perspective view indicating the register landcoordination of the design on opposite sides of the fabric;

FIG. 7a is a diagrammatic cross-section upon an enlarged scale of theheavy fabric which is being imprinted by the printing screens;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary horizontal perspective view similar to FIG. 3showing an alternative arrangement in which the printing is effectedfrom only one side by modification of the apparatus of FIGS. l to 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4,there is shown a base stand A having the upright columns B which arehollow and desirably of D-shape or semi-cylindrical` shape in section.These columns .support the cross members C which carry bearings E forthe shafts F of the screen rollers G.

The screen rollers G at each end are provided with the drive gears H andI, H being the drive gear on the outside cylinder G, and J being thedrive gear on the inside cylnder G. These gears J and H, which drive thescreen cylinders G, are in turn driven by the gears K on the shafts L.

The transverse shafts L have bearings M on the transverse -members C.These shafts L are in turn driven from the sprocket chains N whichencircle the shafts L in pairs.

The base sprocket drive P is driven from the .motor Q. The various chaindrives or chain connections N and P are provided with the adjustments Rto assume proper tensioning.

The fabric roller S will feed the material which is to pass upwardlybetween the screen printers G. Each pair of rollers G may be adjusted inrespect to one another for registry by means of the adjustment T (seeFIGS. 3 and 4. The pairs of rollers G may be adjusted in respect to eachother by means of the adjust-ment U (see FIG. 3).

The fabric as shown in FIG. 6 has its tension controlled Iby theadjustment V. The fabric W, which is produced as shown in FIG. 7 hasexact registry on fboth front and back sides.

The printing liquid X, shown in FIG. 5, is fed independently into eachroller G by the conduits Y. The pressure rollers Z will hold thescreening in contact against the Y cloth material so that a properprinting is achieved.

Referring specifically to FIGS. 3 and 4, the screen `roller G is formedof a cylinder of screening 20 which is mounted at its ends and held incircular position by means of the end discs 21 which are either solderedor otherwise connected to the end edges 22 of the brass rings 23. Theseend circular or cylindrical plates 21 will have the nipples 24 whichcarry the shaft sections 25.

The cylinders will be spaced slightly apart to receive the mate-rial Wto be imprinted and interiorly of each screen cylinder will Ibe thepressure rollers Z, which press the tangential portions 26 of the screencylinder 20 against the fabric W. These rollers Z are mounted at theirend portions by means of the shaft 27 in the ears 28, which in turn aremounted upon the frame structures 29 positioned interiorly of eachscreen 20.

The pressure rollers Z have a tendency to bow over the length of thescreen cylinders G, particularly where the length of the screencylinders is in the upper range of 24 to 96 wide fabrics. The framestructure 29 has interior mounting members 30 which have adjustmentscrews 31 (see FIG. 3) acting upon the shafts 32 of the pressure rollers33. The pressure rollers 33 are positioned at intervals along the lengthof the rollers Z, and they may be adjusted to press upon the oppositeside of the pressure roller Z so that they will maintain their correctalign-ment and will neither bow nor take up any concavity or convexitywhich would prevent proper contact of the adjacent tangential portions26 of the screen rollers G with the fabric W.

As indicated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the machine has a drive as indicated inFIG. 3 and a paint or liquid printing fluid supply which is indicated inFIG. 4. The liquid supply conduits Y may lead from suitable liquidsupply drums not shown and they Iare connected to the tubes 40 whichpass through the shaft portions 41 (see FIG. 4) and connect to the inletnozzle portions 42 with the oblique ends 43 which maybe mounted on thefaces 44 of the structure 29.

The oblique outlet faces should preferably be in the middle 1/3 of thelength of the screen cylinder G and desirably be about 35% to 50% of theway in from the end discs or plates 21. The feed through the tubes Y maybe regulated by means of an electrical contact system shown in FIG. 5.The electrical contact system, which may control a valve upon the tubesY, is provided with the cups 4S (see FIG. 5) having the centr-a1 contactelements 46.

When the level of vthe uid is as indicated in FIG. 5 there will beestablished a circuit from the exterior cup element 4S to the centralelement 46, the supply of printing liquid will be cut off, thusdetermining the amount of printing liquid held within the screencylinder G. Desirably, the printing paint or fluid will be appliedthrough the openings in the screen cylinders G at the point of tangencywith the fabric W as it moves upwardly in the direction 47 as indicatedin FIG. 5.

The drive for the screen cylinders G is best shown in FIG. 4. Eachcylinder will have the drive gears I and H at each end inside of thebearings E on the cross members C. The position of the gears H inrespect to their shafts F may be regulated by means of the adjustmentsT. The adjustments T consist of spiral gears or wor-ms 50 which aremounted at 51 on the end structure S2 of the gears H.

The worms 50 will mesh with the gear 53 and will turn the outer cylinderG in respect to the inner cylinder G so as to adjust the registrywithout affecting the position or changing the position of the centralcylinder G. This will take place when the fabric W is not in position.

The connection between the shaft section 41 and the cylinder G as shownin FIG. 4 is through the adjustment T and by changing this adjustmentthe position of the outer cylinder G is changed.

At the same time the spacing between the pairs of screen cylinders G maybe regulated by means of the threaded adjustment S4 (see FIGS. 3 and 4).Each horizontal beam C carries a threaded adjustment 54 which isthreaded into the end member 55 and rotated by means of the outwardlyprojecting shaft 56, which has a wrench insert 57.

The threaded shaft S4 extends through the bearing structure E as shownat 58, so that the outer bearing E may be adjusted in respect to theinner bearing E as indieated best in FIGS. 3 and 4. As shown in FIG. l,the lower part of the outer bearing E has a dovetai'l lower projection58 which fits in a recess 59 in the support memiber 60.

The cross member C will have a ange 61 which carries the base 60 (seeFIG. l).

As indicated in FIG. 4, each of the shafts L may also be -adjusted inrespect to the meshin-g drive gears H yand I by means of the adjustment70. The adjustment 70 has a wor-m 71 connected to the structure 72 whichmeshes with the gear 73. By turning this adjustment, the position ofboth screen cylinders G may be changed in respect to the shaft L towhich the chain drives are applied.

The shaft L has the slide key 73 which enables movement of the gear Klaterally if required. The bearing M for the shaf-t L in the set fra-meC does not have any adjustment. The positioning of the columns B asshown in FIG. 4 gives most adequate support to the frame. The flat side74 on one of the columns B will be bolted at 75 to a flange 76 taking upany lateral thrust opposite the adjustment 56 of the outer shaft 41.

The lower column B in FIG. 4 will be turned at 90 to the upper column Bso that the at side 77 is presented across the axes of the cylinders G.The at side 77 is provided with the bolt 78 and the mounting flange 79will carry the cross structure C at the adjustable end to take up thelong thrust of the shafts L and F.

At the drive end as shown in FIG. 3 the gear K also has a key adjustment80 on lthe shaft L. The hollow columns B will be similarly positioned asa-t the other end when the flat side 74 parallel to the axes of thecylinders and the at side 77 transverse to the axes of the cylinders G.

The right ends 81 of the shafts L carry the sprocket gears 82 and 83.The chain on the inside sprocket gear 82 meshes with an adjustmentsprocket 84 Imounted by the shaft 85 in the clevis 86. The clevis 86 hasa slotted extension 87 which may be bolted in an adjusted posi-tion bymeans of the bolt 88 on the face 89 of the hollow column B.

This arrangement enables the gear 84 to take up any play or looseness inthe sprocket chains N which extend around the adjacent ends 81 of theshafts L.

The sprocket elements 82 and 83 are mounted upon the cylinder member 90,which carries the structure 91 attached to the worm 92, forming part ofthe adjustment U. The worm 92 meshes with the gear 93 and enablesadjustment in respect to the shaft 81 of the drive for the shaft 81 sothat it may be retarded or advanced, to assure registry.

As shown in FIGS. l and 2, the drive -is applied to the lowermost shaft94 by means of the chain drive P which extends around the lowersprockets 95, 96 and 97. The sprocket 95 is carried on the stand 98while the sprockets 96 and 97 are carried on the structures 99 and 100on the base A.

The shaft 101 of the sprocket 97 -is also -the shaft of the largersprocket wheel 102, which is driven by the chain 103 -meshing with thesprocket 104. The sprocket 104 is driven by the shaft 105 of the motorQ, the base 106 of which is also mounted upon the base structure A.

It will be noted that each pair of shafts L are connected by chaindrives N and each is adjustable by means of the adjustments U in respectto one another.

The fabric feed takes place from the roll supply S as shown in FIGS. 2and 6, which roll S is held on the shaft 107, which shaft -is held uponthe uprights 108 extending upwardly from the base as indicated at 109under the roller 110 and through the rollers 111, 112 and 113. Theroller 112 is mounted on the struc-ture 113 as shown in FIG. 2 and theroller 111 on the shaft 114 may be adjusted by movement of the block 115and the shaft 116 with the handle 117 A(see FIG. 2). The fabric W willpass upwardly between the screen rollers G during the printing operationafter proper tensioning is given by adjustment of the shaft 116. Themotor shaft 10S will be carried by the bearing 118 mounted on the base A(see FIG. 1).

Referring to FIG. 5, the effect of the double nip or double tangentialprinting will be to give the fabric a printed design as indicated at130, 131 and 132 on opposite sides of the fabric, which will match andbe in registry. Both sides of the fabric wil be simultaneously printedwith the same fluidity of ink, under the same conditions of fabrictension and under the same climatic conditions, resulting in aregistered printing on both sides of heavy fabrics such as draperyfabrics, terrycloth and the like; as shown in the detailed view of FIG.7a, the ink may be applied suiciently so that it will penetrate throughthe loop portion 133 4to the center of the central strands 134, meetingat the median plane 135 of the woven fabric. The ink penetration isindicated at 136 from both sides due to the action of the screen rollersG.

With a thinner fabric it is possible to print all the way through thefabric by the modicd arrangement shown in FIG. 8. In FIG. 8 the samestructure is used as in FIG. 3, except that there is substituted for theinside roller G a solid roller of rubber or steel on the shaft 146driven by the same gear I and having a key adjustment 147. With -themodified arrangement of FIG. 8, although the rubber back roller may beadjusted, it is not necessary to do so, since registry is obtainedthrough the screen roller.

It is thus apparent that the present applicant has provided a duplexsystem of printing on both sides of the fabric simultaneously fromprepared screen cylinders, each carrying all printing ink or paint whichis desirably applied to both sides ofthe fabric at the same time.

The ink should be so adjusted as to penetrate the distance of 40 to 50%of the depth of the fabric so that the printing application at each sidewill mee-t at the median plane of the fabric without over supply, whichtends to cause overrun and spread of the ink beyond the picture desired.The ink should be so well absorbed by `the fabric that it will notinterfere with the subsequent applications of higher pairs of rollers inthe pile as indicated in FIG. 2,

The most desirable fabrics to be printed which will accommodatethemselves to printing on both sides with the print design meetingcentrally of the fabrics will have a Weight of six ounces to 16 ouncesper yard of 45 inch width goods. To express this in yards per pound,there should be between one and three yards per pound of 45 inch width.Smaller or w-ider widths may be adjusted proportionally.

As many changes could be made in the above duplex rotary screen printingmachine, and many widely different embodiments of this invention couldbe made wi-thout departing from the scope of the claims, it is intendedthat all matter contained in the above description shall be interpretedas illustra-tive and not in a limiting sense.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of theinvention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, what isclaimed is:

1. A vertical 4duplex multicolor screen printing machine for printingrelatively heavy textile fabrics of the nature of drapery cloth, blanketmaterial, terrycloth and canvas with liquid printing inks in registry onboth sides simultaneously with absorption toward the central zone of thefabric and moving vertically upwandly through successive printingstages, each-.stage consisting of tangentially contacting cylindricalscreens with the fabric moving upwardly therebetween and being imprintedin a different color in each said passage upwardly therebetween, themachine comprising a plurality of superimposed parallel pairs oftangentially contacting cylindrical printing screens positioned in avertical arrangement, one above the other, pressure rollers inside ofsaid printing screens to press said screens together and :against thefabric, a tensioning fabric feed below the lowermost pair of printingscreens, a pair of intermeshing gears at the ends off each cylindricalscreen of each pair of printing screens to rotate said screens of eachpair, a drive gear meshing fwith and positioned along one side of eachpair of intermeshing gears at the ends of each pair of cylindricalscreens, driving chains encircling and connected to and driving eachsuperimposed pair of drive gears, an adjust-ment to adjust the positionand registry of each pair of printing screens associated with one ofeach said pair of intermeshng gears, a fabric feed below the cylindricalscreens, a drive for said screens below the cylindrical screens andindependent liquid ink supply to each cylindrical screen.

2. The machine of |claim 1, there being from' 3 to 12 parallel pairs ofcylindrical screens -and means to adjust the tension of the drivingchains :between each pair of superimposed drive gears.

3. The machine of claim 1, means to feed said liquid ink from saidscreens to each side of said vertical fabric in suicient quantity toyassure penetration without gravity effect substantially to the medianplane of the fabric and to a depth of about 50% of the thickness of thefabric.

4. The machine of claim 1, said driving chains being positioned so as todrive the gears of each upper superimposed cylinder frorn the gear ofthe next lower cylinder and means to adjustably tension said chains.

5. The machine of claim 1, each said independent liquid supply beingprovided with control means and an inverted cup control arrangementpositioned in the liquid ink in each cylindrical screen to control theiow of ink into said cylindrical screen.

6. The machine of claim 1, said drive gears being provided withadjustments including worm and gear arrangements.

7. The machine of claim 1, the adjustment to adjust the position andregistry consisting of a worm and gear arrangement.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,549,605 4/ 1951 Huck 10i- 1812,665,634 1/1954 Schwartz et al. lOl-115 XR 2,928,340 3/1960 Stein et al10i-120 3,160,094 12/ 1964 Bean 101-181 3,232,224 2/ 1966 Kramer lOl-1203,115,433 12/1963 Eolkin et al 118-7 XR ROBERT E. PULFREY, PrimaryExaminer.

C. D. CROWDER, Assistant Examiner.

